Classic Gingerbread Cake Recipe

I positively love the flavor of ginger. Whether it’s pickled ginger with sushi, ginger ale (mint ginger ale is a favorite variety of mine), candied ginger or ultimate ginger cookies, if it has ginger in it, there’s a 99.9% chance I’m going to love it. Which is why it’s so shocking (and wrong) that up until this week, I had never made a proper gingerbread cake for the holidays. Molasses, ginger, beer, and spice – what’s not to love?! Turns out, absolutely nothing. This cake rises beautifully, is soft and moist, and most importantly – packed with boatloads of flavor. Christmas needs gingerbread, I’ve decided. I’ve seriously missed out until now!

I’ve been eating this plain, straight from the plate (breakfast of champions!) but I also think that a dollop of sweetened whipped cream would be a nice touch to the cake.

An extra tip: If you wrap it well in plastic wrap and let it sit overnight before serving, it becomes even moister and the flavor really bursts, I highly recommend it!

Directions:

2. Bring the stout to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and stir in the baking soda (mixture will foam up). When foaming subsides, stir in molasses, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until dissolved; set mixture aside.

3. Whisk the flour, ground ginger, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and pepper together in a large bowl; set aside.

4. Transfer the stout mixture to a large bowl. Whisk in the eggs, oil, and grated ginger until combined. Whisk the wet mixture into the flour mixture in thirds, stirring vigorously until completely smooth after each addition.

5. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and gently tap the pan against the counter 3 or 4 times to pop any large air bubbles. Bake until the the of the cake is just firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 35 to 45 minutes. Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack for 1½ hours. Cut into squares and serve warm or at room temperature. Store leftovers at room temperature, wrapped in plastic wrap, for up to 2 days.

*Note: This cake does pack some heat thanks to the ginger and pepper. If you are particularly sensitive to spice, you can decrease the amount of dried ginger to 1 tablespoon.

Hi Patti! I have used the large cans (in NZ they’re 700g) and the small cans (350g) and both work well 🙂 I’ve posted about it here (www.delacasa.wordpress.com/2011/11/29/how-to-little-tin-can-cakes/) but just give it a go!

Thanks Christina~ I will have to give the tin cans a try…I used small bread loaf “paper cup liner” type things to make small loafs for gifting at Christmas. They worked okay but the cakes came out kind of funny! but still tasted great! The tins would give them shape that wouldn’t get wonky. The flavor is fantastic with these cakes/bread.

I love gingerbread and absolutely have to have some around Christmastime. That is a great tip about wrapping it in saran wrap. I like to put lemon sauce on my gingerbread. I will have to try this recipe this year!

I have not sure I have ever tried anything more than a gingerbread man cookie before, and those are not high on my list of favs. But I love ginger and spices. This cake sounds like it would be amazing. Perfect with coffee or tea for an afternoon snack too!

This looks great. I love gingerbread. Have you seen Nigella Lawson’s version? She cuts it up and covers it in retro reindeer and pine tree decorations, then lots of icing sugar to make a Bavarian snow scene. It’s ridiculous. In a good way.

We used to have gingerbread once every year in December when some family friends made it. I’m pretty sure they used a box mix, but the flavor was spot on & it’ll always be what I base the taste of gingerbread on. Thanks for the memory trip & the recipe. The color of yours is just like what I remember.

Hi Carolin, I don’t make it, it’s made by a brand called Tom Tucker. I have only ever found it here in the Pittsburgh area, nowhere else! It’s delicious though and they only thing I crave when I’m sick!

A fond childhood memory is warm gingerbread dripping with fresh, warm lemon sauce, and topped with a dollop of whipped cream. Heaven itself! I’ve been thinking about this memory for months now, and this recipe looks positively delicious to try!

I made this the other day and it turned out great! Wasn’t sure how so much molasses would taste (I find the smell a bit off-putting. I used the Grandma’s brand — is there a milder one I should have tried?) but the end result was delicious. Didn’t make or buy any whipped cream, but some Ben & Jerry’s vanilla ice cream was just as good.

Mmmm, mmm! Just saw this on Pinterest! My mom made gingerbread often through the years when I was growing up, using a recipe from one of the popular standard cookbooks of the era. We always had it with sweetened whipped cream. This is what was expected when someone said gingerbread for those generations past, at least in our extended family/friends (gingerbread cookies were “gingerbread cookies”). We recently made it again with mom, only we put some crystallized ginger in the food processor and pulsed it, then sprinkled bits and sugary powder over the top of the whipped cream. She’d probably like this stout-containing recipe better!

My father was born and raised in the Beechview/Dormont area of Pittsburgh, and he would talk about his Welsh grandmother would making it and putting hard sauce on it. i remember as a kid, my father liked to dip ginger snaps in hard sauce that you could buy in a jar. I guess that was the closest to his childhood dessert. My mother was not much of a cook and did not bake. Her attempts were scary! You could never tell her mother and aunt were from Pa Dutch country and could cook and the baking was out of this world. They were always baking for me after they moved to Florida when I was little.

I made this cake for my husband’s birthday, he loves ginger cake and ginger snaps and ginger in general. The molasses was a little too much for me, but my husband thought it was great. I’ve read other recipe comments that recommend using mild molasses, so that might have helped. I served the cake with the salted caramel sauce recipe also featured on this site, along with a side of ice cream. It was a great combo!

Reviews

I made this cake for my husband’s birthday, he loves ginger cake and ginger snaps and ginger in general. The molasses was a little too much for me, but my husband thought it was great. I’ve read other recipe comments that recommend using mild molasses, so that might have helped. I served the cake with the salted caramel sauce recipe also featured on this site, along with a side of ice cream. It was a great combo!